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THE
financial crisis in the United States has a bright spot
for the Philippines. “We do see problems regarding job
cuts in the
United States.
On one hand, this will be a positive factor for the
Philippines in terms of higher demand for
business-process outsourcing [BPO] and the service
sector.”
This is
the opinion of property management consultant CB Richard
Ellis Philippines chairman Rick Santos, as expressed in
his media presentation in Makati on Thursday.
He also
noted the country is not experiencing a property slump
despite the onset of the subprime housing-loans crisis
in the US, because Philippine builders are not building
on pure speculation but on actual demand—unlike with the
practice in the late-’90s until the market dropped in
the regional crisis of 1997.
This is
the reason
Santos does not see a property bubble building up locally that
could burst; developers, he said, have now learned their
lessons very well from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
“If the additional demand does not come, then they shift
gear and hold back any planned construction.”
Santos
also noted a brisk selling of properties in the past
months, an indication there is still big demand for
expansion. He cited the unfinished structure formerly
owned by the Silverio family in Dasmariñas Village near
Edsa, which was sold to the South China Resources and
the Puyat family by Ashmore and Alphaland property
companies.
Santos
added the presence of office buildings occupied by BPO
firms contributes to increased activities in the area,
resulting in demand for additional services such as
hotels and restaurants.
In his
presentation, company vice chairman Joey Radovan said
they see some BPO companies moving out of grade-A
high-rise buildings to new IT-centric buildings in new
business districts because of high rental cost in their
present locations.
At
present, office-space rentals in
Makati
commercial district is P1,200 per square meter. He said
the BPO companies will transfer to new low-cost and
growth areas such as
Quezon City,
Ortigas, Alabang and the Bay area.
Aside
from the lower rental cost, BPO companies like low-rise
buildings owing to lower maintenance and the fact that
they could have the building all to themselves.
Radovan
said the other attractive site for BPOs is Metro Cebu,
which will continue to be a popular investment site not
only for tourism-related developments but also for
corporate expansion of BPOs.
Radovan
said other provincial locations worth considering for
new investments are the cities of Davao, Urdaneta,
Cabanatuan, Tacloban and Iloilo. |
